


Rule Breakers

by orphan_account



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-22
Updated: 2016-03-22
Packaged: 2018-05-28 09:18:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6323719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charlie thinks about how his dysfunctional friend group can't even manage to follow their own weird set of unspoken rules.</p><p>Focuses on Charlie's personal relationship with his three buddies in the rare moment they actually talk to each other like normal human beings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rule Breakers

**Author's Note:**

> Intros kind of slow IMO but I needed to establish some stuff..! I hope u like my gay ass fic thanks

They all had things about them, things all of them knew were true about each other but nobody ever talked about. Maybe it was too uncomfortable, or they were all too stubborn to be the ones to show concern for each other outside of specific circumstances, but it was like an unspoken rule at this point. A rule that had been in place for all four of them since they were children. “It's just one of those things everybody knows about but never really talks about.” They would all try to justify in their heads. Like the way they acted was normal for a group of friends that are supposed to care for each other. They liked to pretend this aspect of their little group relationship specifically was perfectly normal and healthy. That lack of communication is what they needed, and being so adamant about never talking about the things that really hurt them and cut to their core was what would keep them afloat. 

Over the years together, they'd built up the idea that they all HAD to stay together the way that they did. It went beyond Charlie and Mac's friendship as kids, where they had nobody but each other and looked out for each other in ways nobody else, including their parents, cared enough to do. It went beyond Dee and Dennis’ deep bond as siblings, formed from growing up with a manipulating, cold mother and an absent alcoholic father. They've been together since birth, and despite the rivalry Ms.Reynolds had instigated from choosing favorites, and the distaste they seemed to have for each other even now, they were the only biological family the other had to rely on.

The twins had very few, if any example of what love and support and family was supposed to be by the time they were in their sophomore year together, meeting Mac and Charlie, who had been neglected and ignored, or in the extreme case, abused, by anyone they were raised to believe was supposed to love them.

In short, they were all very fucked up, damaged teenagers. It was only a matter of time before they found, and clung to each other, because that's what kids like them did. They clung to any hope of normalcy. Any kind of understanding anyone could show them at that age represented the possibility of a normal, healthy, loving relationship. Unfortunately, without knowing how those worked, it was hard for any of them to actually BE normal, healthy, loving people. They were still sad and selfish teenagers, but now they were sad and selfish together. They'd grown up this way, into unsuccessful, bitter, selfish adults, still clinging desperately to the chance of being happy. Clinging desperately to each other. 

Hell, they might have blamed their parents directly if they weren't to stubborn to admit there was something legitimately fucked up with all of them. Or too proud to admit they weren't happy. It's easier to pretend your childhood was normal, than relive every moment that may have severely damaged you as a person.

It had taken years to happen, but eventually they all had developed a very cynical, twisted outlook that it was them against the world. “Like pirates…” Charlie had said when Dennis drunkenly made the observation one night, 8 beers deep in a 64 pack Mac, Charlie, and him were trying to get through in his and Mac's living room. Dennis just smiled and agreed, too hammered to care that his point had been lost on the guy.

But it hadn't really. The drinks were just making it even harder than usual for Charlie to get his thoughts out coherently. If anything, he was having a rare moment of deep understanding. He squinted as his thoughts struggled to form themselves into a comprehensible state, knowing that words and letters would be mixed up and said wrong if he tried saying anything out loud.

While Mac started rambling with Dennis about why he would hypothetically be pirate captain if the gang were a group of pirates, he stared up at the ceiling, his head spinning as his thoughts jumbled up all over and all at once. Thinking about how Mac, and the twins, and him were all together, even though they all probably deserved to be alone. How nobody else wanted them. How they didn't even seem to want each other sometimes, but stayed together through so much anyway. He thought about how everyone knows pirates are mean, unfit for the rest of society. They know they're mean but refuse to change, either because of ignorance and refusal to blame themselves, or because they think they can't survive without being the way they are, without being surrounded by other manipulative, evil pirates to back them up in the fucked up insincere ways pirates do. 

Mac and Dennis were laughing, but Charlie hadn't heard the joke. They'd seen him get that dazed, deep-in-thought look he got sometimes and went off into their own little conversation. Charlie looked back up to his spot on the ceiling when he saw Dennis clap his hand down on Mac’s leg for emphasis, not needing to keep watching to know he would squeeze it, which would make Mac force out a nervous, wheezy laugh before quickly glancing over to make sure Charlie wasn't watching. 

It was just out of courtesy. Those little moments of public affection that weren't even supposed to be public seemed to mean a lot to Mac, even if they rarely happened while Dennis was sober. (to be fair, none of them were sober very often lately.) Ignoring them for the sake of preventing Mac from getting flustered and trying to explain himself or Dennis, which only ever lead to things getting really awkward, was worth acting oblivious for a few minutes. It was getting late enough, and he was fucked up enough on the cheap weed and warm beer, that he didn't mind not being included in the conversation. 

He wasn't happy thinking about this kind of stuff, especially not while he was with his buddies, but he was too set on relaxing to get upset over it. His day had been too difficult and his brain had been too scrambled all day for him to get worked up about one more singled thing, so as it was he was fine with thinking about stuff he would usually only think about when he was all alone in his apartment, angry with his friends and having trouble getting high fast enough with whatever shifty spray paint he managed to dig out of the closet. 

The phrase “out of the closet” echoed in his skull as he heard Mac make that nervous laugh again, not even bothering to look over. Nobody would actually be against being upfront and cool about Dennis and Mac and their “thing”, but neither of them liked talking about it. Mac’s sexuality in general had become something nobody talked about in front of him, as had Dennis’ attachment to Mac. 

That was another thing. Charlie was back to thinking about the group as Dennis gave some bullshit excuse about them needing to look for something in Mac’s room. They still had rules, despite being a group of individuals known for having no respect for the law, or even being held accountable in general. Nothing would stop Charlie from questioning what Mac and Dennis needed in Mac’s room, or even calling them out for having their hands on each other for the last half an hour, but he wouldn't. It just over complicated things and, on a larger scale, jeopardized their entire group’s dynamic. What the four of them had with each other sucked and probably wasn't healthy by any idea of the word, but it worked. It worked and that was good enough for them. They were too stubborn, and maybe a little scared, to try anything else. The last thing any of them needed was for their entire support system, the only reliable one they'd ever had, to come undone. 

Rules like these were necessary to survive the way that they lived. “Like pirate laws.” Charlie muttered to himself as the other two snuck off, knocking back the rest of his 10th beer. Maybe he wasn't quite sure how to articulate any of this to his friends, but he was more consistently aware of it than the other two in the room were. He and Sweet Dee, he thought, noticed how often they all unanimously decided to ignore things about each other for the sake of simplicity much more than Dennis or Mac did. Or at least he thought they didn't notice. He wouldn't ever try talking about with them though...it was just one of those things you weren't supposed to talk about. 

But hadn't Charlie and Dee talked about this a dozen times before? Granted, it was usually when they were drinking, pissed off at Mac and Dennis already for something dumb like ditching them to hang out, or “hang out” with the implication they were doing more making out than anything else, but Charlie guessed that was just different.

Or, not different. More like an exception, which Charlie just considered a fancy way of saying “breaking the rules but in an ok way.” He reached for another beer out of the 64 pack Dennis had tucked under the coffee table, and Charlie started thinking about all the exceptions as he ignored the flushed look on Mac’s face and the way Dennis’ shirt didn't seem to be buttoned right as his friends walked back in from Mac's room.

**Author's Note:**

> 4 remaining chapters will be longer. Thanks for reading!


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